If You Could Hear Them
by Anycents
Summary: The Straw Hats are a very lucky crew ... or maybe the crew just has more members than one would first assume. (The character list has Eyelashes the camel, but not Wado Ichimonji. I bet Wado shows up in more stories then Eyelashes or, like, half the characters on that list.)
1. The Arms Shop

**Many thanks to the gracious and patient MasterQwertster for beta-reading this story. Any mistakes remaining are my own.**

**Originally, there was only this first chapter set in Logue Town. ****After getting a few questions, I decided to expand on this one a bit. This is the first time I'm putting up a story that I haven't planned an end for, although I have a couple more chapters almost done. I'd be happy to hear if you have any ideas you'd like me add or expand on. I'm trying for this Miyazaki-esque idea of a lively spirit world standing just out of sight of the human world, although I did not stick to strictly Japanese mythology.**

**I have posted some character concept art on DeviantArt. If you're interested, just go to DeviantArt and search for 'One Piece Anycents.'**

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Wado Ichimonji gives a doubtful look into the barrel of discount swords the shop owner had dismissively directed them toward. What an annoying man, insulting her by calling her worthless and all to try steal her away from Zoro too!

She knows Zoro would never willingly part with her, but she's glad that the Marine that looks like Kuina popped up again, if only to interrupt what was turning into a very annoying conversation. Despite her disconcerting outward appearance and the fact that her dedication to swordsmanship seems to be secondary to her fascination with the swords themselves, she seems nice enough.

Wado scrunches her nose, Zoro needs three swords to make use of his signature style. However most of these seem to be made to be worn as part of a dress uniform or a costume. They are cheap steel that would shatter the moment it came in contact with a real blade.

They have no names let alone spirits to grant them strength.

Relying on them seems like it would be worse than not having a weapon at all.

Then she spots one notable exception.

There is a red sheathed katana, mixed in with the trash.

A momentary spike of optimism is quashed when the sword's spirit stirs and she fully registers the kind of energy that is radiating from the weapon.

When the Marine picks it up and holds it out to Zoro the spirit uncoils from the blade like a cobra raising its head. It coalesces into a ragged, spindly figure with wild eyes, and a manic grin.

Unseen by the humans, the spirit slings an arm around Zoro's shoulders.

She bares her teeth at him in warning, but he just continues to grin at her while bending to whisper in Zoro's ear with a voice like metal scraping over stone, "Take me with you swordsman. My maker was one of the greatest who ever lived."

At the same time the shop keeper starts to sweat, fighting with his own conscience until he breaks out, "No! I changed my mind! I can't sell that sword!"

Zoro is still inspecting the blade impassively. The manic spirit sneers at her, "Hah, this idiot can't even hear me, he's totally oblivious to what he's -"

Zoro unknowingly interrupts, "It's cursed, right?"

The shop keeper goes on to nervously explain that the blade's name is Sandai Kitetsu and that all that carry blades of that line come to a tragic end.

Wado reflects that a violent death is hardly an uncommon fate for those who make their living fighting. If this sword has gained a reputation, either the individuals who died were particularly infamous or their deaths were particularly gruesome.

The sword seems amused by this recounting of his reputation, he leans toward Zoro again, "No one will be able to stop you from doing anything you want. With me by your side you can cut down _anyone_."

Wado scoffs to cover up how this spirit is making her skin crawl, "Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you?"

The other spirit scowls and sneers back at her, "What shelf have you been sitting on to be so clean? You will soon know for yourself, I've seen his kind countless times before, radiating pride like heat from a furnace. His sort answers insults with death, every killing only leading to another, until one day they are put down like a rabid dog. Then his killer will claim you only for the cycle to start all over again."

She is struck by the weight and bitterness of the other spirit's words. She can picture it. Fools thinking a famous name would protect them, making enemies at every turn only to fall under the weight of their pride.

Zoro is foolish in many ways, but he does not kill for pride or sport, "I have been by his side for many years already. You are wrong. He is not seeking a blade that can make up for his deficiencies, only one that can keep up with him."

Kitetsu hisses, "A loyal little dog to follow the arrogant fool."

At the same time Zoro declares, "I like it. So much so that I'll take it." He has a battle ready smirk on his face that makes it obvious he's picking up at least the gist of what they are saying.

The shop keeper starts to protest at the same time Wado rolls her eyes, of course he would take this slinking weirdo's words as a challenge rather than a warning. She's going to be stuck with this guy as a traveling companion.

Zoro responds to the shop keeper's protests, "Then how about this? Why don't we test what's stronger? My luck or its curse?"

Kitetsu starts to cackle like the swordsman has just told a hilarious joke, "It usually takes me at least a few days to drive them to do something suicidality reckless, this will be a record."

As Zoro prepares to throw the blade, Wado grins back at the other blade, "He can sheath a blade by throwing it in the air. This will be easy."

The blade stops laughing, but continues to grin at her as it waits for the right moment.

As Zoro drops his hand in order to throw the blade the ragged spirit crouches.

Just as the swordsman starts to lift his arm into the throw, Kitetsu throws its head back and howls like a mortally wounded animal, a sound of pure despair and terror.

The marine gasps and her legs start to shake, but Zoro simply holds his arm out and closes his eyes.

The blade seems rise and fall in slow motion.

It skims around Zoro's and arm and embeds itself almost to the hilt in the floor. The marine and the shop keeper fall to the ground as their knees give out.

Kitetsu growls when he sees that Zoro's arm is completely unharmed, "So he has some skill, it only means the blood bath will be greater in the end! The more pride they have in their strength, the more dangerous they become when that pride is wounded by fear."

She is already thoroughly tired of the other spirit's attitude, "If he ever becomes so despicable, we can turn on him together. How about paying attention to what's actually going on?"

The shop keeper has just jumped to his feet and run to the back of the shop. He soon returns with another katana with a black sheath.

The spirit of the third blade uncoils and stretches like a tiger waking from a nap as the shopkeeper introduces the blade as Yubashiri.

The new spirit assesses her with a critical eye. His upright posture speaks of discipline and self-confidence verging on cockiness. Military, Wado thinks, but he is not a standard issue saber of the Marines.

"Can't say I'm sorry to see you go Sandai Kitetsu. You may have had a hard time of things, but that's no reason to make everyone else miserable. It's nobody here's fault your masters were all a bunch of honorless thugs." He turns to Wado Ichimonji, "Good luck working with him. You'll need it."

Yubashiri's 'everyone else' causes her to look around and realize that there are indeed a few other spirits lingering unobtrusively around the shop, apparently content to avoid the attention of Sandai Kitetsu, and possibly Yubashiri as well.

Kitetsu growls, "At least some of my masters made a name for themselves! Nobody remembers the name of the _island_ you came from, let alone any of its _defenders_."

Yubashiri bristles, but their attention is brought back to the humans' conversation when the shopkeeper declares, "I'm not asking for any money! Just take it!"

The feral blade starts to cackle again only to cut off as the shopkeeper continues, "Of course I won't ask you to pay for Sandai Kitetsu either. I apologize for trying to trick you before. It's been a long time since I've seen a swordsman as good as you. They say a sword choses its owner. So I shall believe in your good luck and pray."

She can't help but smile as she looks between the two spirits now sporting comically similar airs of indignation at the presumption of the shopkeeper's words.

Kitetsu sees her smile and scoffs, "He's getting three? Does he break blades so often that he needs a spare? Or maybe that's why you're so clean? He keeps you for show?"

Wado tries not to show how that hits a nerve. She had survived the clash with Mihawk's Yoru because she is a better blade then the two nameless ones Zoro was carrying at the time.

Still, despite refusing to give up multiple times, he had ended the fight when it became clear that another charge would almost certainly lead to her being shattered. That risk had stopped him when having a blade pressed to his heart had not.

She had cursed her own weakness that day.

She glares at the other spirit and reminds herself that while Zoro might not use her as often as the other blades he has carried over the years; she is the one he relies on when his strike needs to be at its strongest and most sure.

She ignores Kitetsu's smug look at having managed to get to her and replies airily, "He uses three swords when he fights. He developed the technique himself."

"And how does he do that exactly?" Yubashiri asks with skeptical curiosity.

She tries to maintain her air of confidence as she replies, well aware that fully explaining would sound silly even if the technique has more than proven itself over the years, "You'll see when the time is right."

Sandai Kitetsu starts up his annoying laughter again and even Yubashiri snorts, "That bad, huh?"

Wado decides that she doesn't like either of them very much.

She tries not to let the disappointment get to her too much. She finally has companions to talk to and they turn out to be a brute and a snob. Great.

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**Thank you for reading! I know it's not much, but I've been struggling with some longer stories that I can't seem to get in order and I was happy to just to finish an idea. **


	2. Leaving Loguetown

**For those of you coming back to this story, I've changed my intro at the beginning of chapter 1 to reflect that I'm adding more chapters. **

**Beta read by MasterQwertster, an excellent writer and wonderfully supportive advisor. Any remaining mistakes are my own; please feel free to point them out so I can correct them.**

**I have posted some character concept art on Deviant Art. If you're interested just go to DeviantArt and search 'One Piece Anycents' and they should pop up. **

**Chapter Summary: Zoro found some new swords, now he just needs to meet up with the rest of the crew.**

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They make it about fifteen minutes before another chance to demonstrate Zoro's fighting style comes up.

Zoro wanders into Loguetown's crowded main square at the same time Nami enters from another street with a pack stuffed full of clothing and Sanji and Usopp come from another direction hauling a huge blue fish with a floppy nose.

After casually greeting each other they start looking around for Luffy, since this is where he said he was going.

They all spot him about the same time…

Well…

It looks like he found Roger's execution stand.

And Buggy the Clown of all people has somehow trapped their captain and is planning to use him to give a demonstration of the scaffold's purpose.

Nami recovers first, "We'll get the ship ready to go! Come on, Usopp!"

As those two run off toward the harbor, the clown's crew starts firing guns into to the air and the crowd suddenly realizes this isn't a safe show and starts to scream and scatter in all directions.

Zoro draws Yubashiri into his right hand and Sandai Kitetsu and Wado Ichimonji into his left.

Wado puts aside wondering how this situation started in order to focus on the fight ahead.

Luffy is in danger and she can feel her wielder's energy winding up at record speed, "Guess you're going to see Santoryu sooner than expected," she smiles at the other two, "Let's see if you two can keep up."

The Cook leaps forward into the enemy pirates with an outraged shout at the same time Zoro rushes forward while clamping Wado between his teeth.

She hears a sharp intake of breath from Yubashiri and an offended hiss from Kitetsu.

Zoro tears into the mob of enemy pirates in a whirlwind as Buggy finishes his speech and prepares to bring his cutlass down on Luffy's neck.

Zoro and the Cook are progressing across the square as quickly as they can batter the enemy out of the way. The pirates in front of them are more like a physical barrier than proper opponents.

She aligns herself so that the force of Zoro's strikes flows cleanly through every strike.

Bodies go flying in all directions, but they still aren't moving forward fast enough.

She can hear the Cook shout in frustration and Zoro growl in outrage around her hilt.

She can feel the other two's reluctant participation stifling the full force of Zoro's strikes, "Stop acting like useless hunks of metal and live up to your names!"

Sandai Kitetsu sneers and Yubashiri huffs, "Don't you have any pride, letting him drool all over you…"

Luffy calls out to his crewmates and smiles broadly down at them from the platform, "Sorry, but it looks like I'm dead."

Zoro freezes for a heartbeat in shock before diving forward again with even greater urgency.

Wado will _not_ allow this to be how things turn out.

She turns around and snarls at the other two spirits. She is the strongest of the three of them and for a moment they instinctively snap to attention.

Just as Buggy's blade starts to come down Zoro surges forward, throwing enemies aside so fast they fly away like water splitting before the prow of a boat.

It's not going to be enough.

A roar tears through the spiritual realm vibrating through their bones as a massive lightning bolt drops from the clouds to strike the execution stand directly, engulfing the platform in white light and smoke.

The blast throws Buggy to the ground in a smoldering heap.

Zoro, Sanji, and everyone else in the square go still as the now flaming execution stand creaks and abruptly collapses in on itself.

Wado looks around to see who has intervened on the Captain's behalf.

On the edge of the crowd stands a massive storm dragon, sinuous body bunched up ready to strike and long whiskers lashing aggressively.

Just in front of his fore claws stands a tall figure in a bulky green cloak. The only thing visible under the hood is a broad, vicious smile.

She turns around at Zoro's barely audible sigh of relief to see the Luffy has pulled himself out of the wreckage and gone to retrieve his hat, completely unfazed by having been half a second from dying, "Shishishi, looks like I did survive! How lucky!"

Lucky that that cloaked man was here and decided to intervene. She glares at the other two sword spirits as Zoro resheathes the blades, but they just mirror her irritation back at her.

She refuses to be sorry when so much was on the line.

"You saw what he can do even when you aren't helping. Santoryu works!"

Yubashiri looks skeptical, "Those opponents were trash. Any halfway competent swordsman could have done the same."

Kitetsu curls his lip, "If he drools on me, I'll drop on his foot and cut off his toes."

Wado grits her teeth, but holds off an angry retort.

Katanas are rarely used more than one at a time and, as far as she knows, Zoro is the only one who uses three at once. They are going to have to work together as a team of four when usually it would only be a pair.

Up until now Zoro has only worked with her and two unnamed blades, so in many ways it had still just been the two of them. She had imagined the great things they could do working together with two other swords that had earned names, but had failed to consider that those other blades might not be on board with the idea.

She lets out a breath; words aren't going to convince them, "He gets into fights often enough that a chance for a proper demonstration will come up soon. Also, I'm the only sword he ever puts in his mouth."

Yubashiri makes a face like he can't believe she just admitted that out loud and Kitetsu starts cackling again. She glares at them, refusing to be ashamed just because they don't understand.

Their conversation is interrupted by the Cook turning from his inspection of the smoldering wreckage to ask Zoro, "Hey…do you believe in God?"

The swordsman ignores the question, "Enough talking. Let's leave this town already. We've got more trouble heading our way."

Yubashiri looks confused, "Really? Even though he can hear us?"

Wado considers how to explain, "It would be more accurate to say, he isn't waiting on the gods to solve his problems."

Yubashiri looks disapproving, but Kitetsu grins, "So, he isn't a total idiot."

Wado wrinkles her nose at the bad taste Kitetsu's approval leaves in her mouth.

With a roll of thunder, rain starts to fall thick and fast, soaking everyone and making it difficult to see anything more than a block away.

Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy make a break for the edge of the square, hurrying to get out before any more Marines show up.

Wado let's herself be towed along as she looks around. The shocked looks on the other two spirits' faces draws her attention to the Captain who is trailing behind them taunting the Marines.

On one shoulder the spirit of Luffy's devil fruit is finishing shaking off sparks of static. She resembles a short, broad leafed plant with roots tracing all along the captain's limbs. A pair of eyes on stalks turns to look at the boy and her leaves bristle then settle in exasperation.

On his other shoulder another spirit is imitating their captain, taunting and making faces at their pursuers. He resembles a capuchin monkey, although his braying laugh sounds more like a human's.

"Two?" Yubashiri asks surprised, "I thought that wasn't possible."

Wado smiles in amusement at their confusion as she points at the plant, "That one is Gumgum."

The plant turns her attention toward them long enough to rustle her leaves in greeting.

Wado shifts her finger to the monkey, who hasn't bothered to turn around yet, "That one is Boshi."

The other blade looks at her incredulously then at the hat sitting on the Captain's head, "You must be joking." His brow furrows, "How could something so fragile manage to build up a presence?"

She shrugs, "If the things he says are true, he's over fifty years old, and he has belonged to individuals who had spiritual energy to spare." After a moment she adds, "Lying doesn't seem to be in his nature."

The spirit finally turns to look at them, mock disapproval undercut by his grin, "It's not nice to talk about people behind their backs, ya know."

Wado shrugs, "You were busy."

Boshi tilts his head as he inspects the two new spirits, "So, you're Zoro's new swords?" He grins, "You look strong. That's good."

Wado introduces them as Sandai Kitetsu bares his teeth and Yubashiri's brow creases even more deeply, disliking being address so casually by a mere hat of all things.

Boshi seems unbothered by their expressions though. He leaps onto Kitetsu's shoulder.

The cursed swords growls and tries to grab the smaller spirit.

Boshi seems to think it is a game and starts laughing as he scrambles around Kitetsu's shoulders then head then back and around his sides a couple times before ending up to his other shoulder.

He tugs a bit at the thick, matted red hair covering the spirit's head, "Your mane is a cool color, but why's it all patchy? Did you lose a fight?"

The blade shrieks in frustration, "Get! Off!"

Obligingly, Boshi jumps over to Yubashiri, who huffs in irritation, but seems to decide it's beneath his dignity to flail around trying to get him off. Although that doesn't stop him from twitching when Boshi runs a small paw over the hairs just behind his ear seeming to examine luster of the pure black, "And you look like you haven't been fighting at all."

Yubashiri glares and Wado wonders if Boshi realizes how rude it is to point out something like that.

Not that it would have stopped him.

Boshi keeps smiling as he addresses both the new swords, "Don't get mad, things will be better now."

Kitetsu scoffs and Yubashiri looks at Zoro who they are all running behind, "It could hardly be worse."

Boshi pats the shoulder he is standing on, ignoring the return of the sword's offended look as he jumps over to Wado.

He looks her over, assessing if anything has changed since they last saw each other. He stabilizes himself by burying a paw in her mane. He turns the tuft he's grasped onto back and forth for a bit to admire the iridescent undertone of the bright white.

She reaches up to rub the back of his head so hard it's almost a noogie, "Captain is making things interesting again."

Boshi looks proud that she noticed.

That's when the Marine from the sword shop steps into their path, her sword, Shigure, standing at her side bristled up with irritation.

The woman declares, "I shall take back Wado Ichimonji!"

Wado growls at her presumption as Zoro responds with a challenging smirk and a, "Just try it…"

A moment later, Kitetsu has leapt forward tearing into the spirit standing beside the Marine woman. Shigure claws back at him and Kitetsu flashes a sadistic grin.

They are locked at an impasse until Zoro reaches over to draw Wado as well while telling Luffy, "Go on ahead."

Boshi jumps back to Luffy's shoulder as the captain runs past. The young man grabs the suddenly infuriated Cook who has started protesting leaving Zoro to potentially harm the Marine woman.

Fortunately, Luffy doesn't pay him any mind and drags him off toward the harbor.

Even with two swords against one, the Marine manages to block all Zoro's strikes. However, unsurprisingly given how often they've already seen her trip, her footing is bad and Zoro quickly starts driving her backwards.

When her back smacks into the wall of a nearby building it startles her enough that Zoro is able to disarm her, sending Shigure clattering to the ground well out of reach.

Zoro drives Wado's blade into the wall by the marine's head causing the woman to flinch.

A strange reversal of the last time Wado was used for this move.

The defiance on the woman's face flashes to confusion for just a moment as he pulls Wado out of the wall. As he turns to walk away it burns into rage.

The marine screams at Zoro's back, berating him for not killing her.

Wado is not impressed. Why would he kill her when he was able to defeat her without even harming her? If she really wants to be maimed so badly, she should take up her sword again and force the issue.

A moment later the marine seems to decide to do just that. She lunges into a roll and grabs Shigure off the ground, jumping up to swing it at Zoro.

Zoro draws Wado again to block her strike and they are once again at a standstill.

As the two humans square off, snarling at each other, Shigure starts to lecture Wado, "It's because of scum like this pirate that blades become twisted! You should turn on him before you end up as scared as that one!" She flicks a finger at Kitetsu.

They both growl at her in return, although for different reasons.

Wado bares her teeth, "Don't speak of things you know nothing about!"

She is eager to have another go at the other blade, but much to her frustration, the humans just stand there yelling at each other until they are interrupted by a whole mob of marines appearing out of the rain just down the street.

Zoro notices the mob and dons his characteristic smirk.

But before he can step forward, another dragon roar echoes through the spirit realm.

The wind starts to pick up and Wado has just enough time to become alarmed before everyone in both realms is swept up and sent tumbling in the direction of the harbor by an irresistible gale.

Zoro spends about half a block cursing as he smacks into the ground and various bits of flying debris.

Finally, he manages to get his feet underneath himself and starts running, leaning to keep from falling over while jumping and ducking to get around rubble and fallen people.

The Captain comes into sight tumbling down the street just as the Cook pulls himself out of the rubble of a nearby wall.

Zoro grabs Luffy and starts dragging him toward the harbor so they can get away before the storm traps them here.

Boshi's fur is fluffed up in offense and Gumgum's eyestalks are swiveling around as if wary of an attack.

"You encountered another enemy?" Wado asks, wondering if they might still be attacked.

The rain is stinging now, coming in almost horizontal due to the wind that is still gusting hard at their backs. It would be difficult to stop and fight.

Boshi crosses his arms and stomps a foot on Luffy's shoulder, "He cheated!" Not clarifying anything.

The plant's leaves shiver and frustration is clear in her voice despite how soft spoken she is, "It was the second other devil fruit we've ever fought and this one wasn't working with someone too lazy to develop his skills. If that man with the storm dragon hadn't shown up, who knows what would have happened."

Wado knows that Luffy and Gumgum have been working on becoming stronger together for years and that she always drives herself to the edge trying to make up for what she considers her natural weakness.

A situation that had struck Wado as very familiar when she'd first become aware of it.

Boshi glances at Gumgum and then glares in the direction they come from for a few long moments before letting the whole thing go with a huff.

His face splits into a grin, "You worry too much about stuff that didn't happen, Gummy. We got away, so it's fine!"

She looks like she wants to protest, but seems to decide that focusing on what's ahead of them is more important since she returns to swiveling her eyestalks around looking for danger.

They reach the ship, where Nami and Usopp have gotten everything ready to go. The ocean has become choppy enough that they had to move the Merry out a ways to avoid the ship ramming into the shore.

Of course, with Gumgum's aid Luffy just wraps one arm around Zoro and Sanji while using the other to reach for the ship. Usopp dives out of the way as the captain sends them all sprawling onto the deck.

They untangle themselves and Sanji and Zoro each thump their laughing captain on the head before Nami yells at them all to stop screwing around and help get the ship out of the harbor.

Wado stands off to the side with the other two sword spirits watching the small crew scramble to get everything in order.

She places a reassuring hand on the railing and feels Merry stir and murmur in welcome. Yubashiri looks around for the presence they just felt emanating from the ship. He looks confused when he doesn't see anything.

"She's still young," Wado pats the rail.

"It's actually pretty amazing how fast she's waking up. We've only had this ship for a few weeks." She smiles around at the crew, "But they are pouring a lot of attention into her."

She points to the Sniper and smiles fondly, "I think Usopp might even be able to hear her. He always seems to know where she is hurting."

Wado introduces the new additions to their crew again and she feels the warmth emanating from the young ship spirit in return as well as her determination as she does her best to break cleanly through the rough water and forge ahead for her people.

Yubashri seems intrigued, "It's been years since I last saw a Klabautermann."

Kitetsu is prowling toward the back of the ship, but he throws over his shoulder, "Yeah, not many ships in a storage closet."

Before Wado can say anything, Yubashiri growls and strides after him, "That's rich coming from someone who ended up in a barrel full of costume trash."

He also disappears from sight as Kitetsu hisses in response. Moments later a ruckus of snarling and cursing from both blades lets them know a full on brawl has started.

Wado leans against the railing and waits. Boshi scrambles up onto the railing and sits next to her looking in the same direction.

A dark haze quickly starts condensing on the raised stern deck where the Navigator's mikan trees are kept.

There is a sound like a branch breaking and the two sword spirits yelp in alarm as they come rolling down the stairs back onto the main deck.

They lay in a stunned heap for a few seconds before they simultaneously realize how ridiculous they look and shove away from each other growling.

Wado represses a laugh as they stand up and straighten themselves out, both pretending that they were done with fighting anyway.

The dark haze has disappeared like it was never there.

Boshi grins and lectures with all the smugness of seeing someone else get into trouble for once, "Serena gets grumpy if you bother her trees. So, if you're going to fight, do it down here."

A rough, but feminine voice comes over the railing, "HA, like _you're _one ta talk, ya nuisance."

Yubashiri's irritation at being punted is tempered by surprise, "What is one of her kind doing on a ship?"

Boshi smiles proudly, "She decided to come with Nami's trees out to sea. How else would a dryad get to see the world?"

A lean humanoid figure with rough, coffee colored skin and long 'hair' made of green pointed leaves decorated here and there with mikans comes to lean on the railing, "And lucky for you I did, otherwise these trees would have died from salt and then where would all your precious humans be? Dead of scurvy, that's where!"

The hat spirit waves a placating hand, "Of course, of course."

The tree spirit rolls her eyes and waves dismissively back at him, leaning on the railing and turning her attention toward the humans scrambling around on the deck under Nami's direction. Now that her trees are no longer being distrubed, her irritation has dissipated just as quickly as it came.

Yubashiri looks around warily, "Any others we should know about lurking around?"

Wado points to where Sanji is currently adjusting one of the sails, "A brownie followed the Cook when he left his home ship. They're mostly nocturnal, so he's probably sleeping right now."

Boshi jumps up and runs off, "Let's go see." He raises his voice as he runs through the closed door into the galley area, "Hey, Lamar! Are you sleeping?"

Wado sighs. Well, it's already too late to stop him. Serena drops through the deck into the kitchen and the rest of them follow up the stairs.

They enter in time to see the hat spirit dragging a person who looks like a lanky, dark haired human except that he is only a little bigger than the monkey and has pointed ears.

The kitchen sprite blinks in confusion, "Wha?"

Boshi jumps up and down jiggling Lamar's leg, "We have new crewmates! You have to meet them!"

"…ok…OK!" the brownie shakes the monkey's paw off his leg so he can stand up and brush imaginary dust off of himself.

He looks at the two human sized spirits curiously as he straightens up to his full two-foot stature.

Wado injects cheer into her tone, "Lamar, this is Yubashiri and Sandai Kitetsu." She tries to tamp down her own misgivings, hoping the other two sword spirits will behave, "They are going to be working with Zoro and me."

The little spirit lights up as he greets them, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

He knows she had been hoping Zoro would acquire some other named blades.

Kitetsu looks away like he can't be bothered to respond to such an absurd assertion, but Yubashiri gives a polite nod, mollified by finally meeting someone with some manners, "This is a well-kept kitchen."

The little spirit beams, "Sanji works hard to keep everything in order."

Wado chuckles at the brownie's modesty, "He came along, left his whole clan behind, to help keep any of the food from going to waste."

Lamar looks embarrassed, "Being a sea cook isn't easy, especially when the Captain is so hungry all the time. I just thought he could use a little extra help. He's a lot like us."

It's in the nature of his kind to be helpful, though she learned the hard way that thanking them directly is sure way to incite their ire. Very like the Cook indeed.

"We're lucky to have you," she asserts easily.

Kitetsu doesn't say anything, but his determinedly closed posture has relaxed just a fraction in the peaceful air of the galley while no one has been paying attention to him. Wado decides it would be best not to draw attention to it.

Boshi, always restless, scampers out the door only to come right back in a moment later, "Come on! You all gotta see this!"

They all move back out onto the deck where the crew has finished getting the ship under way.

They are all toward the prow of Merry looking toward a light burning through the rain and mist even as the tower supporting it remains almost invisible in the gloom.

"The Light of Guidance," Nami explains leaning on the front rail, "The entrance to the Grand Line is just beyond."

Except for Usopp, who nervously wonders if entering in the middle of a storm is the best idea, almost everyone stands up straighter, grins lighting their faces.

Kitetsu's mane bristles up in alarm and he casts about not understanding why only Usopp seems alarmed by this information.

He turns to Wado, angry at their lighthearted reactions, "You _know_ the kind of things that are on the other side of that mountain."

Wado nods, but keeps her voice level as she replies, "Should be lots of good fighting."

Kitetsu looks around at the small crew of teenagers and the ship that was clearly _not_ designed to sail one of the most dangerous oceans in the world, "Not if we end up _at the bottom of the ocean_."

Yubashiri is looking toward the bright glimmer of the lighthouse through the fog. He speaks over his shoulder, "Playing it safe is what left me sitting in a closet for the last forty years. Would you rather have stayed in the Arms Shop's bargain barrel?"

Kitetsu's ears lay back flat against his head and he sneers at the other spirit without saying anything.

Sanji drags out a barrel of beer from the storeroom to celebrate their entrance into the next leg of their journey. He shows the others what to do by placing his dress shoe clad foot on the lid and declaring, "To find the All Blue."

Luffy quickly follows suit, "To become Pirate King."

"To be the Greatest Swordsman."

"To draw a map of the world!"

"To…To become a brave warrior of the sea!"

They all grin like loons as they raise their heels together and stave in the top of the barrel.

Yubashiri grins, "Ambitious."

Boshi jumps onto Wado's shoulder and buries a hand in her mane, standing up to his full height and stating with certainty, "They will live up to it."

They all stand a little straighter as they feel Merry's warm swell of pride in her crew and her determination to carry them toward their goals.

Except for Kitetsu who hunches up like he finds all this optimism oppressive and annoying.

Boshi breaks the moment by jumping onto the grumpy sword spirit's head to engage him in another round of 'tag,' scrambling all over the larger spirit's body as he spouts encouragement, "Don't worry, Kitty! You'll do great! I'm sure!"

"That's not the problem you ridiculous fashion accessory!" Boshi jumps down and runs off laughing only for Kitetsu to chase after him.

The rest of them watch as the two of them weave through the celebrating crew. Yubashiri calls out in mock encouragement, "Don't let him get the best of you_, Kitty_."

Serena laughs and Lamar sighs as Zoro looks down in confusion at the wash of murderous rage that emanates from Sandai Kitetsu.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**


	3. Onward to the Grandline!

_**Beta-read by MasterQwertster. Go check her stuff out, you'll like it. Any remaining errors are my own.**_

Chapter Summary: Some of them have been to the Grand Line before, so they're totally prepared.

* * *

Luffy insists on staying outside on figurehead to watch the storm. They leave him out there with Serena leaning on the railing near him, face turned happily into the rain.

As the rest of the crew heads to the galley, Nami splits off to retrieve the map of the Grand Line she had stolen from Buggy.

They get into the warm little gathering space and Sanji starts doing some prep work in the kitchen area along one wall.

Zoro gets out his blade maintenance kit and sits down at the table.

Usopp looks between Zoro and Sanji a few times as he dries himself off with a towel Sanji tosses to him. When they both continue to behave as if nothing at all alarming is going on, he sighs and slouches over to other side of the table.

The Sniper rests his chin on his crossed his arms, quietly watching Zoro and looking pensive as he's torn between complaining about their stoicism and imitating it.

The spirits of the three weapons gather around the table to watch. Wado sits to Zoro's left and Yubashiri and Kitetsu position themselves across from the swordsman on either side of Usopp, watching the swordsman work with a critical eye.

Lamar watches them for a few moments, noting the slight tension around the table. He seems to decide it's best to leave it alone for now and goes to get some work done in the pantry.

The blades of both the new swords have been coated in an extra thick layer of oil for storage. He cleans them each off and checks their edges.

Yubashiri is fairly straight forward. The shop keeper had at least known what he was doing when it came to blade maintenance. It doesn't take long for Zoro to prepare the blade to be used and put it back in its scabbard.

Kitetsu, on the other hand, had been sharpened to a razor thin edge by whoever had last done the job. Not good if one is going to be cutting into things like metal and bone.

"Surprised it's not chipped. Moron," Zoro murmurs to himself, referring to the sword's last owner.

Kitetsu looks smug, like he is remembering a particularly funny prank, "Fortunately, he got killed before he could swing me at anything."

Wado knows he's just trying to get a reaction, but something must still show on her face because Kitetsu chuckles, "Idiot took me on a dare. Went running ahead of everyone else and got an arrow through the neck. Of course it was still somehow _my_ fault."

In response to his fake indignation Yubashiri points at Zoro and guesses, "You egged him on like you tried to do to this one at the shop."

Kitetsu gives a distracted shrug as he leans over the table, keeping his eyes Zoro as the swordsman fixes the edge of his blade.

It has just occurred to Wado that he is up to something when he lets out a "HA!" and lunges, clawing his long, pointed nails through the same space as the swordsman's hand.

He had been waiting for the right moment to make Zoro flinch and cut his fingers open.

Wado hisses in offence, but swordsman simply stills the motion of the whetstone. He sternly addresses the blade in his hand, "Cut it out."

He starts to move his hand again, "I've almost fixed it."

Usopp lifts his head off his arms and furrows his brow on the verge of asking a question, but seems to change his mind in the face of Zoro's intent focus on his swords.

The Sniper props his head on his hand and curls his fingers around his chin, watching more intently, as if he might be able to figure out the reason for Zoro talking to himself through observation.

Zoro spares him a faintly amused glance before silently continuing with his work, noticing his crewmate's confusion and silently daring him to try and figure it out on his own.

Wado narrows her eyes at the cursed blade, "If you wanted to be left behind in the shop you could have just stayed quiet."

Kitetsu slouches back onto the bench, "I _wanted_ to cut his arm off."

She can't help but feel smug about that, "And instead he passed your little test."

She finds herself leaning forward trying to convince him, "You should be glad. He admires your strength despite the fact that you tried to turn it on him."

Kitetsu stares at her, seemingly struck speechless and Wado almost starts to hope she may have gotten through to him.

Then the red maned blade flicks a finger at Zoro, "Where are the other blades he was using before he came practically begging at the door of the Arms Shop? How many did he go through before that?"

She can feel her hackles rising again in indignation, "He takes excellent care of—"

Kitetsu growls, "_You_ are special to him. _We_ are just more fodder for his ambition."

She makes the mistake of letting herself be put on the defensive, "It's not the same! Those blades didn't even have names!"

…Still they had broken, "…He expects no more of us then he expects of himself."

Kitetsu scoffs, "From the scars on his hide, that doesn't mean much."

She clenches her teeth on a growl and reminds herself that the person most likely to suffer if they can't get along is Zoro, "He's going to be the strongest swordsman in the world. The blades he carries to that title will have that to their name forever."

Kitetsu rolls his eyes.

She can't help but insist one more time, "To climb to the top requires risk. But if we shatter, it won't be because of carelessness or foolishness on his part."

The cursed blade flares up with contempt and anger, "_If we shatter,_ it won't matter why."

Yubashiri, who has been watching this exchange as if it were a tennis match, clears his throat, "Maybe not to _you,_ but some of us still have some self-respect."

Kitetsu bares his teeth, but Yubashiri pushes on, "You should at least give him a chance to show what he can do. You're only more likely to end up at the bottom of the ocean if you get him killed."

The cursed blade sneers, "If _I_ can get him killed, he never would have made it to the top anyway."

That sounds like a threat.

A moment later she is startled to feel Zoro's hand resting on the hilt of her blade. She realizes she had started leaning over the table toward obnoxious spirit with a growl building in her chest.

Kitetsu has laid his ears back and braced himself defensively as if preparing for an attack.

There is defiance on his face and, worse yet, a look of vindication. As if by becoming angry she had proven something in his eyes.

She tries to smooth her hackles down. Zoro has picked, or at least accepted, Kitetsu.

She also notes with some guilt that she can feel Merry's growing unease. The ship doesn't like it when crewmembers fight.

And however she feels about it, the other two blades are crew now.

She can fight with Kitetsu, but there is nothing that will convince him to cooperate right now. He is determined to strike out at everything.

She forces herself to lean back and take deep breaths, resting her hands on the table.

Zoro finishes putting a proper edge on Kitetsu so the blade can cut without nicking.

The Swordsman inspects the sword, grinning evilly as he imagines fighting with his new weapons, "Much better."

She knows Kitetsu wouldn't admit it, but she can see some of the strain around his eyes and in his posture has smoothed out now that the metal of the blade is no longer stressed.

After sitting for a couple minutes in silence she thinks maybe they can just leave the bickering behind for now.

Just as Kitetsu makes a face indicating he's just thought of something really infuriating to say, Boshi comes galloping through the door, "Nami's gonna tell us something cool!"

The hat spirit jumps up on Wado's shoulder as Luffy slams the galley door open and starts to shake the water off himself like a dog.

Gumgum shakes her leaves out and tries to smooth them down, muttering to herself, "Does he _always_ have to hang off the figurehead?"

The cook growls and tosses a towel at their captain's face.

Luffy pulls the towel off his head, laughing as he demands, "Sanji, I want juice."

Sanji seems to ignore him, instead twirling the short distance to where Nami has entered just behind Luffy. He offers her a neatly folded towel with a flourish and gives a small swoon when she offers a brief "thanks."

The Navigator pulls down the hood of her raincoat and starts dry off her face and hands.

As Sanji turns back to the galley and starts pulling out glasses, Nami grabs her captain's ear. It stretches a little before he starts to follow, calmly accepting her manhandling.

She drags him around and pushes him down onto the bench at Zoro's side. Wado scoots over a bit so they aren't overlapping.

Lamar comes out of the pantry slapping his hands together to dispel the black dust of the rot spirits he's just captured.

The brownie sees the group gathered in the galley and perks up seeing an opportunity. He springs up onto the counter where Sanji has just finished pouring glasses of orange juice.

He stands over the pitcher and makes a habitual motion of pushing his rolled sleeves up. Wado licks her lips in anticipation when he starts waving his hands over the juice in a precise set of gestures.

Something resembling steam separates from the pitcher and gathers between brownie's hands. Finished with that, he casually leaps from the counter to the tabletop and starts flicking his wrist like he's dealing cards.

Glasses of juice appear in front of the spirits sitting around the table. Boshi gives a small cheer, jumps down from Wado's shoulder, and happily sticks his whole face in the top of the glass and starts drinking.

For a few moments there is silence except for the sound of the monkey's slurping as the two new spirits stare at the little spirit actually consuming the contents of the glass.

Yubashiri reaches out slowly, uncertain he will make contact, and picks up the glass in front of him. He lifts it up to the light, inspecting it as if trying to discern the method of its creation.

Wado lifts her glass in a small salute, "Try it."

She drinks but keeps her eyes on the other spirit. He's obviously never gotten to try something like this before.

The dark haired spirit curiously lifts the glass to his lips. The moment the liquid touches his mouth, he freezes and his eyes widen.

It's several seconds before he realizes Lamar, Boshi, and Wado are all grinning at his reaction and makes himself swallow, "…Amazing… I've never actually gotten to taste food before…Than-."

"We're lucky to have you with us," Wado quickly breaks in, making a nixing gesture across her throat.

Yubashiri's brow scrunches in confusion, "I was just going to say –" he stops again when Wado widens her eyes in warning, but gives her an irritated expression that demands an explanation.

Wado tries to frame it in a way a sword spirit might understand, "Brownies consider it rude to repay a favor with nothing more than thoughtless words."

Yubashiri's brow scrunches, like he doesn't believe what Wado is telling him.

Lamar who is still standing between on the table, rolls his eyes at her, "So melodramatic."

He turns to Yubashiri, "Your reaction was compliment enough."

Wado leans back and crosses her arms in annoyance. _She_ hadn't gotten off so easy, "I was just trying to save him from getting _clawed_."

Lamar gives her a look like she's the one being unreasonable, "That was _weeks_ ago."

And more importantly, just after he'd left his clan. Her reaction had been similar to Yubashiri's, but at the time the brownie had thought she was being flippant.

This had quickly devolved into the humbling experience of having to struggle to hold her own against a spirit less than half her height that wasn't even specialized in fighting.

It had ended with Boshi sitting on Lamar and Wado's arms pinned to her sides by Serena's vines until they'd finally straightened the misunderstanding out.

She had been watching her words since then. It was nice to know she wasn't the only one who had learned something from the experience.

Amidst all this, Kitetsu has disappeared from the table with his glass.

Their attention is brought back to what the humans are doing when Nami walks around to the end of the table and slaps the still damp waterproofed map down on the table, "The entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain."

They sit listening to the humans trying to figure out how that could be possible until Serena drops through the ceiling and simply states, "Something's wrong," before turning and walking through the door.

The spirits all quickly follow her outside.

The ocean ahead of them is so flat it is reflecting the bright sunlight like a mirror even though just behind them the rain continues to pour down.

They all look back and forth repeatedly in growing confusion and panic. There should _at least_ be waves from the storm behind them.

Wado can feel her mane fluffing up in alarm despite her efforts to retain some calm. The spirits that control storms, wind, and currents are powerful and rarely show any concern for the desires of others.

Something in these waters is strong enough to scare them off.

Eventually, the humans on the crew come streaming out onto the deck, having also realized something strange is going on.

Nami is the only one who immediately understands how dire the situation is. She starts demanding they paddle out of the area, called the Calm Belt, immediately.

Sanji, as always, is ready to obey, but everyone else wants explanations first despite the panic in her voice.

All the spirts shift uneasily as they feel a sudden spike of alarm from Merry.

There's an awed, "Whoa" from Boshi.

Wado turns to see he is gazing through the railings down at the water. Serena and Lamar are standing next to him, both frozen with their eyes wide in terror and amazement.

Wado runs to railing and looks down.

Just beside the ship Merry's shadow blocks the glare. Underneath the water is remarkably clear.

A horde of serpentine creatures weave slowly through the water below them.

Assuming visibility of a couple hundred feet, the monsters below them are big enough to dwarf a whale.

The bottom of the sea looks odd, a series flat sections that taper off into ridges all pointing the same way. It reminds her of something…

Wado shudders as a pulse vibrates through the spirit realm. It is idle but powerful, like a horse twitching its skin to rid itself of flies.

Some of the creatures below turn and start to swim toward the surface.

They just keep approaching… and approaching

…growing and growing in size.

Through her mounting terror she realizes that they must be seeing not hundreds, but _thousands_ of feet down.

There is one with broad black and white stripes coming up directly below them.

Soon its head fills her entire field of vision.

When the water all around them turns black from the blotch on the massive sea king's nose Lamar calls out, "Hold on, Merry!"

The brownie and the dryad both grip the railings of the ship tightly.

Neither of their powers is completely suited to it, but Lamar can use his powers of preservation and Serena her connection to wood to lend Merry strength.

Merry groans as the beast surfaces, forcing her to bear most of her weight on her keel.

Wado distantly notes that up here, balanced neatly between the creature's eyes, she can clearly see ruler straight division between the East Blue and the Calm Belt.

After standing frozen for a few seconds, they all venture to breathe again. The sea king doesn't even seem to realize they are there.

Lamar says quietly, trying to hide the stain in his voice with gritted teeth, "OK, if we're lucky it will just dive back down and we can get the hell out of here."

Merry shudders as the beast wrinkles its muzzle and gasps in air creating a brief, deafening gale.

Everyone screams, humans and spirits alike, as the giant tilts its head back and sideways and the whole ship starts to slide.

Merry is halfway up the slippery hill of the beast's forehead when the creature sneezes with a roar like an avalanche, ducking its head and neatly ramping them all high into the air.

"Usopp!" Boshi cries in panic.

From where she is still clinging to the railing, disoriented from being almost upside down as they fall back toward the sea, she tries to look around.

Finally, she spots the sniper in the distance. He's several hundred feet away, about to fall into the gaping mouth of a giant frog.

Luffy notices a few moments later and also cries out their crewmates name as he grits his teeth and throws his fist forward from his position clinging to Merry's mast.

Gumgum screams in determination, leaves ridged and eye stalks scrunched down, as she strains to push enough power into her roots to let Luffy's arm stretch far enough.

Wado cheers as Luffy snatches Usopp out of the air and ungracefully reels him back into a crash landing on the deck.

Rain starts to pelt them again.

A few moments later they are all slammed into the deck as Merry hits the water like a landing duck, throwing up a wide wake of water.

"Oh Thank God, we're back in the storm now…" Luffy groans.

Everyone lays sprawled flat on the deck for a couple minutes, just appreciating not being dead.

Eventually, they pull themselves together and get Merry headed in the direction Nami points them.

Usopp is still looking as green as the frog that almost ate him, but he drags himself below deck to check as much of Merry's hull as he can access.

Lacking anything better to do at the moment, Wado follows Serena to the stern deck where she is watching over the railing.

She can occasionally see the long, almost ribbon like bodies of storm dragons wrestling and playing roughly in the clouds, their clashing marked by lightning and thunder.

Serena nudges her and points to a school of water spirits that look like horses with fish tails heading in the same direction as Merry.

The spirits follow Merry for a while playing in the ships wake. She smiles at a couple of younger ones tackling and chasing each other through the spray, occasionally getting nipped at by the adults for bumping into them.

Suddenly, the leader of the heard whinnies in warning and the whole group darts away staying low in the water.

They are being chased by creatures that look like long, sleek crocodiles.

As they get closer to the mountain the sightings of various water spirits becomes more and more common. They see creatures that resemble deer, lion, elephants, and even some that resemble birds.

Serena half scoffs, "Is there a fish version of everything?"

The ship starts to turn and they look up, eyes widening at the sheer craggy red rock cliff that has appeared out of the rain. The definitive edge of the East Blue.

Nami directs the crew to turn Merry to run parallel to the cliff, toward where the lighthouse had been spotted.

Wado notices something strange, "They are heading the same direction we are."

Serena looks around and nods in agreement. More and more sea spirits of every description surround the ship. Predators swim alongside prey all strangely intent in the direction they are heading.

The current is reacting. They can feel Merry picking up speed as they pass by a slanted outcropping of rock that hems them in toward the vast cliff of the Red Line, funneling them toward what looks like a dead end.

Squawking, barking, whinnying, hissing, and roaring combine into a cacophony of noise as the sea spirits converge together.

Yubashiri joins them at the stern and looks out over the stampede, clearly torn between sticking with his earlier bravado and questioning how they are going to manage to cross a mountain in ship.

Wado nudges him with her shoulder and asserts with all the confidence she can muster, "Nami knows what she is doing."

Still, she has to concentrate to keep her breathing even because it _looks_ like they are about to be smashed into the cliff face by the rapidly accelerating current.

It isn't until the cliff blocks out the sky and surrounds them on all sides that the answer finally comes into view.

There is a river running _up_ the side of the mountain through a channel so straight and narrow that it must have been carved.

The entrance is lined with red spirit gates carved with Makara depicted as horse headed fish, though not as graceful as the real ones they saw earlier.

It is packed so tightly with water spirits that it's almost impossible to see the water they are swimming through as the struggle single mindedly up to heights lost in the clouds.

There is a sudden spike of alarm from Merry as she starts to list to one side. The accelerating current just barely allows them to sweep past the first pillar.

As Usopp and Sanji run to the rudder pole try to wretch the ship back on course, the crew's spirits look over the railings, trying to see what could be causing the Merry so much distress.

They hear a crack and Merry cries out in pain as her rudder pole snaps, throwing Usopp and Sanji to the deck.

Finally, Wado spots the problem below them, mixed in with all the other creatures now crowding the ship, "There's something wrapped around the rudder!"

Something slimy and mostly made of tentacles has wrapped itself around the main means of steering the ship.

Wado growls in protective fury as Boshi shrieks a challenge and leaps past her to start clawing and biting at the creature hurting Merry, "Let go, stupid tentacles!"

Wado calls out over her shoulder, "Help if you don't want to sink!" just before she leaps over the rail.

She doesn't look back to see if who follows as she drops onto the knot of tentacles and starts to claw at anything that comes in reach.

It starts thrashing harder letting out screech that resonates through her bones. Her muscles try to freeze up at the earsplitting sound and she starts to slide.

Just before she loses her grip, she feels the weight of pair of small feet land with cat like precision on her head, startling her out of her freeze.

She resets her claws and starts pulling herself back up as Lamar leaps off her head and starts to spring from one coil of tentacle to another, reaching out with quick sweeps of his fingers to touch slimy skin wherever he can reach.

They get another earsplitting shriek as wounds start to open up wherever he touches using his powers of preservation in reverse to inflict wounds. Wado is ready this time and manages to brace against it.

A moment later, Yubashiri drops down and starts tearing into the creature too. He has vines wrapped around his waist and a quick glance up shows Serena bracing herself on the railing as she holds onto the other end of the safety line she has created.

The dryad gives Wado a reprimanding look even as she casts another vine out to wrap roughly around her as well.

Under the combined assault the creature starts to loosen its grip.

But they are already about to strike of one of the massive gates!

There's a cry of "Balloon!" from their captain as he inflates his body and uses it to protect Merry from impacting the pillar.

Merry lurches to the side. Wado quickly snatches Lamar out of the air when his landing spot suddenly disappears. Boshi secures himself by jumping up to cling Yubashiri's head, startling a yelp from the sword.

At the same time Zoro hits the back rail, throwing his arm forward to grab Luffy's reaching hand before he falls into the churning water.

"Leap!" Serena calls and heaves at the vines, hauling them all back onto the deck where they fall in a pile.

Wado disentangles herself and scrambles toward Merry's prow to see where they are headed. She breathes a sigh of relief to see they are in the middle of the current now.

The swarming spirits seem to carry Merry on their backs as they continue to rush up the mountainside.

They are traveling at breath taking speed, yet the clouds that obscure the peak seem to approach slowly.

The Red Line had dwarfed Merry in its shadow and yet this mountain must dwarf the Red Line in turn in order to join the four blues together by spanning the entirety of both that great cliff and the width of the Grand Line.

When they finally enter the clammy mist of the clouds, they are rushing forward blindly for several heart stopping breathes as a roar starts to build in the air.

They come out of the fog suddenly like passing through a curtain.

Straight ahead the water of the four oceans is mixing and _rising_ in a waterspout twice the height of Merry's mast.

In the spirit realm the pool glows with a vibrant azure energy, while underneath the water itself spirals in ocean shades from artic black to tropical cerulean.

The cacophony grows even louder as spirits from all four seas throw themselves forward.

The water spirits seem to be drunk, leaping and looping through the water before ramping through the plume and diving down the outlet with hoots and howls of excitement.

They have only a few moments to marvel at the sight, before Merry hits the geyser and is thrown spinning high into the air.

For a moment they are weightless and everything but the peak of Reverse Mountain is lost in the fog below them.

The landing is surprisingly soft. The rushing water seems to rise to catch Merry as she comes down, sweeping her cleanly into the roaring water of the downhill slide into the Grand Line.

Around them the water spirits continue to call out in excitement as they leap out of the water in great flying arcs.

Wado is drawn out of watching the spirits in fascination by Zoro casually commenting, "Did you hear something just now?"

Everyone starts look around, but no one seems particularly worried until the Cook calls from the yardarm, "Nami! There's a mountain up ahead!"

The clouds seem to be following them down the mountain obscuring their view and it's difficult to hear anything over the rushing water and the noise of the water spirits.

However, the humans who can't hear the extra racket of all the spirits surrounding them start peering through the fog in growing alarm.

Finally, they drop low enough to see what is blocking the fast approaching entrance to the Grand Line.

…The sea king that tossed the Merry into the air without even realizing she was there would be outweighed several times over by the whale rearing out of the water ahead of them.

Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp run to try and turn Merry using the broken rudder pole. Luffy runs off below deck almost unnoticed.

Boshi perks up and jumps onto the railing, "Laboon's gotten even bigger since last time!"

Kitetsu lunges at the monkey spirit screeching, "_You knew that would be here?!_"

He takes a swipe at Boshi, but the smaller spirit almost doesn't seem to notice as he jumps over the sword's claws and scrambles up his arm only to jump off his shoulder and over to Wado.

He continues to watch massive whale, an uncharacteristic look of concern slowly forming on his face, "He'd already been waiting a long time last time I was here …and that was a long time ago."

There's a lot to question in that statement, but, as often the case when Boshi says things like this, there isn't time right now to pry out of him what the hell he's talking about.

Kitetsu glares at them seething, "Well _right now_, it's about to kill us!"

They can all feel Merry's growing panic as the ship tries to slow down or turn.

Despite the steep downhill slope, she manages to kill her breakneck speed somewhat with the help of the crew. Serena and Lamar grab onto the rails again.

"We better not be making a habit of this!" Serena grits her teeth as they pour energy into the ship.

They can all see it's not going to be enough.

They are a moment away from a collision that will stave in Merry's prow when the forward cannon goes off.

It kills their speed enough that Merry bumps into the whale rather than slamming into it. Unfortunately, the last of their momentum is entirely soaked up by the thin neck of Merry's figurehead.

Even as she whimpers at yet another injury, she manages to twist just enough that the heavy wooden figure doesn't fall on top of the Navigator.

They all hold their breath, but the great mountain of a creature doesn't even seem to notice it's been shot.

Wado strokes the ships railing, trying to offer comfort, as the crew starts frantically rowing trying to get around the whale before something else happens.

Just as it looks like they are going to avoid the behemoth's notice and she starts to relax, Gumgum cries, "Luffy, No!"

The Captain has just done what he always does when something hurts his friends.

She can feel her face turning as pale as her hair as a pupil bigger than the ship turns its full focus on them due to Luffy's fist hitting it.

"Ya know, I think that's the first time I've seen Zoro and Usopp in complete agreement about something when it comes to fighting," Lamar jokes weakly as the two humans kick their captain to the ground in a belated attempt to stop him from making things any worse.

Of course, Luffy just jumps right back up like nothing happened, still ready to take on a beast a million times his size.

"Why did you let him do that!?" Kitetsu snarls, leaping at Gumgum and wrapping his hand around her stalk like he's going to try and rip her off Luffy's shoulder.

The smaller spirit that has scrunched itself up till it looks like a bent, collapsed umbrella. She lets out a squeak that might be an apology.

When Kitetsu doesn't let go, Boshi, who had ignored the larger sprit's earlier attempt to attack him, leaps onto blade spirit's head, grabs hold of his ears and pulls back hard.

Kitetsu yowls and releases Gumgum in order to swipe at the monkey, but of course, the other spirit is too fast for him, "Dummy, you know it doesn't work that way. Leave Gummy alone."

It's the same for them after all. They can refuse to help, but they can't actually stop their physical component from being used unless they are willing to shatter.

Kitetsu gives them all a wild eyed look. Just as he heaves in a breath to start yelling again, they are all nearly knocked off their feet by the reverberating cry of offense from the massive creature still looming over them.

The whale opens its jaws and the towering grey cliff of its side turns into an unfathomable black cavern filled with teeth that loom over the ship.

The ocean starts to roar in and they are quickly swept into darkness where all they can do cling to the deck blind and deaf as the Merry rushes headlong down the whale's throat.

* * *

_**I hope everyone is doing okay. I work at a clinic with a lot of immunocompromised patients, so we're doing our best to keep the virus out of the clinic despite being short on PPE and medical grade cleaning supplies. It's **_**a bit**_** stressful knowing a little carelessness on my part could potentially bring the disease into a place where it could very well kill people. **_

_**Despite that, I actually have more free time than usual as I stay indoors, so I've been practicing drawing. I always knew drawing wasn't easy, but I was unprepared for the level of concentration required. It's actually a good thing, because after spending a couple hours drawing I'm able to fall right to sleep at night. If you're interested in the illustrations I've made for this story, go to DeviantArt and search 'One Piece Anycents' and they should pop up.**_

_**The next chapter should be ready to post within a couple weeks. If you let me know what you found interesting or confusing, I can make it better.**_


	4. The First Leg of the Journey

**Beta read by the aptly named MasterQwertster, any remaining mistakes are my own. I thought I was almost done with this chapter and then I went and added 3000 words to it, hopefully for the better.**

**Chapter Summary: So, they got swallowed by a whale…**

* * *

Things have gone still.

Wado cautiously cracks her eyes open.

Somehow, they have come to a place where there is light again.

There is a bright blue sky with fluffy clouds and seagulls.

She squints up at it in confusion until Usopp points out that the seagulls aren't moving and she realizes the whole scene is painted on and lit up somehow.

In front of them is an island just big enough to hold a closet sized bungalow and a single palm tree.

Lamar is looking back the way they came from, although all they can see now is a dark tunnel, "Luffy, Boshi, and Gumgum fell off!"

Serena waves a hand dismissively, "I saw him grab a tooth. He'll be okay." She almost manages to sound completely certain.

Wado finds herself chuckling, "I had myself convinced that I'd seen enough of this place the first time that it wouldn't surprise me anymore." She shakes her head ruefully at her own arrogance, "Obviously, I've been away for too long. I've already been proven wrong at least three times and we haven't even crossed the starting line yet."

Serena gives her a consoling pat on the shoulder, heavy with irony, and Wado realizes she's getting a little pitchy.

Kitetsu's claws are twitching and he seems to be about half a second from going on a rampage.

Right. Not the time.

Wado gives the dryad a wry look, takes a deep breath, and pulls herself together.

Kitetsu curls his lip and leans in; ready to call bullshit on the façade of calm she just pulled down.

But then a giant squid pops out of the water.

And a moment later three giant spears come shooting out of the hut skewering and dragging the monster away.

This is how they meet an old man with giant flower petals growing out his head who introduces himself as Crocus.

Wado, focusing on maintaining her calm, just nods her head and scoots closer to Zoro's shoulder so she'll be ready if he decides he does, in fact, want to slice something up.

Then Luffy, Gumgum and Boshi on his shoulders, comes bursting through _a door_ in the whale's side preceded by two screaming strangers.

Their Captain chooses to shout a cheerful greeting at them with a casual request for help thrown in just before he splashes down into the lake of stomach acid surrounding Merry.

At this point, Crocus chooses to jump into the acid himself and swim off toward a ladder built in the whale's side. They're too busy to worry about that right now.

There's some scrambling as Sanji dives in after Luffy and Zoro helps the strangers clamber onto Merry's deck.

It's a woman with long blue hair clasped into a ponytail on top of her head and a man wearing a green suit and crown, each carrying _a bazooka._ Nobody seems concerned about this.

Even as their captain is still shaking off the lethargy caused by being submerged, Boshi jumps up on the railing and excitedly starts pointing at Crocus who has just come back into view on a platform next to the ladder, "Hey! Flower Guy is still here!"

"Who?" Wado asks.

The monkey hat continues to jump and point, "He's crew!"

"What?!" This is news to her.

Before she can ask anything else, the two strangers stand up and _fire the bazookas_ _they were carrying_ at the inside of the whale.

Crocus runs along the platform and jumps in the front of the cannon ball sized projectiles, which explode when they hit him catching him on fire and knocking him into the acid.

The small monkey goes stiff with outrage, fur standing on end as a growl like an enraged gorilla rips from his throat. All the spirits watch Boshi in alarm, knowing how protective he is of those he considers his own.

Luffy tilts his head, picking up the spike of outrage from Boshi, though he doesn't know its cause. He looks between the two strangers gloating that they will eventually kill the whale and Crocus glowering at them defiantly from the greenish water.

The Captain's expression hardens and he nods to himself, deciding something.

The humans on the crew have been watching the exchange, not particularly inclined to get involved. The new strangers are annoying, but the whale did just eat them after nearly wrecking Merry.

Before anybody can notice, let alone think to stop him, Luffy stalks up behind the two newcomers and clobbers them both into the ground with one blow each.

Everyone is fine with tying up the two bazooka wielding weirdos until they can get everything sorted out.

They all gather on the little island boat and Crocus explains why he has chosen to stay here at the entrance to the Grand Line for fifty years keeping the whale, Laboon, company and taking care of him.

As he's talking, Boshi clambers all over him to trying to determine how he is doing.

Seeing his concern, Lamar asks, "What did you mean he's crew?"

Boshi wrinkles his nose, not understanding how it's not clear, "Crew is crew."

Gumgum says quietly, "Boshi."

And the capuchin turns toward her and cocks his head waiting.

"He is not on Luffy's crew," she points out.

Boshi starts up a big belly laugh at the obviousness of that statement, "Of course not, Gummy. He's Gol's."

The rubber plant spirit's eyes widen on their stalks and her stem straightens in surprise, "ooOOOooh."

Everyone, but the two newest, has shared enough stories to understand. They all turn to the aging man, eyes widening.

Kitetsu's hands make an aborted snatching motion toward Gumgum before he recalls he's surrounded and stops.

Yubashiri leans toward the little plant spirit and asks in voice leveled with sarcastic amounts of courtesy, "Would you mind explaining?"

Gumgum, still absorbed in the revelation, swivels her eyes toward him, slightly startled, "Oh, Sorry. Um, well Boshi has served two captains before Luffy. The first was Gol D. Roger, the first King of the Pirates."

Yubashiri blinks, needing a several seconds to process the significance of this information. He turns to inspect Boshi, who is happily flopped over the old man's head. He seems to struggle to find the right words for a bit before giving up, "Shouldn't he be more…imposing, if he soaked up the presence of someone that formidable?"

Boshi, who hadn't seemed to be paying attention, turns his face toward them with toothy smile, not at all offended, "Naw, this is more fun."

Crocus leads them out of a tunnel he made in Laboon's side.

Once they're back in regular water, they toss the two bazooka wielding weirdos overboard. After attempting to make ominous threats the two just _swim off_ out to sea.

Serena and Lamar stay with Merry and the rest disembark and climb up a long metal ladder attached to the cliff face to the lighthouse where Crocus lives. Everyone takes a seat around an outdoor table made of some stumps and a slice out of what must have been a huge tree.

Over tea the doctor tells them about the crew that left Laboon here fifty years ago, promising to come back.

About ten years ago the whale must have decided that his missing friends need some help getting back over the Red Line because he started bashing his head against it in an attempt to break through.

Gumgum looks downcast, "He's been waiting here for fifty years?"

Yubashiri rubs his chin, "Even if they weren't killed by the Grand Line, they definitely would have died of something else by now. Adventurers aren't known for living to old age…Those are some pretty serious scars, he's going to kill himself keeps it up." His tone suggests it's a shame, but he doesn't think anything can be done about it.

Boshi scowls at the marks on Laboon's face, "This isn't determination."

Wado's broken out of her contemplation of the scared, sorrowful creature towering over them by Gumgum's noise of alarm.

"Luffy, where are you going?" the little plant asks with rapidly mounting panic in her voice. The end of the question fading off as Luffy jumps off the cliff to get back down to the ship.

Wado runs to the edge in time to see Luffy jump onto the Merry, run over to the mast, wrap his arms around it a few times, and _break it off_ by leaning backward.

"Merry!" she cries out in alarm.

She can see Serena and Lamar run out onto the deck. Lamar sets his hands on the stump and Serena crouches down and starts running her hands comfortingly over the deck as they try to see how bad the damage is.

She looks behind her. Zoro and the rest of the crew are watching dumbfounded as their Captain runs up Laboon's side carrying Merry's mast with him.

She looks back down, but Merry is definitely too far away for her to jump down. Damn it.

They watch as Luffy takes the giant piece of wood, which is no more than a sliver compared to Laboon, and slams it into a wound in the whale's nose.

The ground shakes as the giant cetacean cries out in pain.

The crew has to scramble to get out of the way as Laboon smashes his face into the ledge trying to get the sliver out.

Luffy hits back and gets squashed flat for his trouble.

Of course, that doesn't do anything to stop him.

They exchange blows a few more times before their captain is finally sent flying to smash into the side of the light house, only to jump up and declare, "It's a tie!"

Laboon freezes, nonplussed by this declaration.

Luffy declares, "Your old friends may be dead, but I'm your new rival! And once my crew sails around the Grand Line, we'll be sure to come back here to see you again."

They whale pauses, eyes growing watery before they are treated to another earthshaking cry, but this time it's one of happiness.

Wado can't help smiling at that, Luffy may have just done something incredibly stupid, but at least his heart was in the right place.

As Luffy finishes painting something vaguely resembling the Strawhat's mark over Laboon's scars, telling the whale not to bash his head into the cliff anymore to avoid erasing the sign of their promise, Usopp goes to inspect the broken mast.

The sniper sighs in a mix of relief and consternation. It's still in one piece despite having been smashed into the ground several times. He turns to the lighthouse keeper and rubs the back of his neck, "Mr. Crocus, do you, um, have anything we could use to repair our ship?"

Crocus raises his eyebrows, "You didn't bring supplies for repairs?"

When Usopp just becomes even more sheepish the lighthouse keeper sighs, "Well, I have some metal plates left over from the construction work I did on Laboon. You should be able to make something out of that."

Luffy starts to wrap his arms around the mast, but Nami stops him with a blow to the head, "No more 'helping' for you today!"

As Luffy rubs his head pouting, she points at the other two parts of the monster trio, "You two, carry it back down."

Sanji makes an agreeable cooing noise and starts tidying up lose ropes and tackle to make it easier to carry.

Zoro crosses his arms and scowls, "I don't need the cook's help."

Sanji puffs up in offence at his tone, "Nami-san said –"

He's interrupted by the clangor of Usopp dropping the huge stack of thick metal plates Crocus had just tried to dump into his arms.

Face red with embarrassment, he starts quickly stacking the plates back together.

Sanji takes a step toward his younger crewmate before seeming to remember the task he was assigned. He turns toward Zoro, clearly about to start arguing again.

Nami rubs the bridge of her nose, "Sanji, help Usopp with the plates…Zoro, you better not break it."

"Che," Zoro gives her an indignant look before hoisting the mast up onto his shoulder and striding away

…toward the lighthouse.

Nami groans and calls after him then quickly ducks as Zoro spins around and starts stomping in the other direction.

Sanji and Usopp look up from where they were stacking the plates, startled as the huge piece of wood just barely whiffs over their heads.

Sanji starts to bristle up again, but Nami breaks in, "~Sanji-kun~, isn't it almost time to get lunch ready?"

Sanji lights up at the reminder of the rare Blue-Finned Elephant Tuna that's waiting in his galley, "Of course, Nami-san! I have the perfect menu planned!"

Without further delay, he picks up about three-fourths of the plates and brushes past Zoro so he can hurry back to Merry and get started.

Zoro glares after him, but Sanji is daydreaming about the food he's about to make and doesn't even notice as he disappears down the ladder, plates under one arm.

Usopp looks in dismay between the ladder and the sheets that are still left.

As Wado follows Zoro to the ladder, she sees the sniper's eyes light up as he spots some torn sailcloth lying near the lighthouse.

She's able to slide down to the bottom of the ladder before the distance gets too uncomfortable, but then she has to wait for Zoro.

Sanji gets to the Merry, dumps the plates on the deck, and trots up to the galley, almost dancing he's so excited.

Zoro follows more slowly having to maneuver the long, awkward load as he climbs down the ladder.

She keeps scooting out as Zoro descends, wanting to get to Merry as soon as she can. She ignores Kitetsu snickering at her from the base of the cliff. Yubashiri is leaning a little distance away from him, watching her. He waits until she actually starts to get close to the ship before he pushes off the wall and comes to stand next to her.

Zoro finally gets close enough that she can scramble up the gang plank to see the damage for herself. She can feel Merry sniffling a little as she tries to be brave. A broken mast is not the worst thing that can happen to a ship, but that still must have stung quite a bit.

Lamar is grimacing as he presses one hand into the stump sticking up from the deck.

Serena has sat down so the branches that make her 'hair' can wrap around the wounded spot, there is a haze in the air from her anger on Merry's behalf, "What was that lunatic doing?"

Wado glances over to where Laboon is now resting calmly on the ocean's surface letting the freshly painted mark covering his scars dry.

She runs her hands along the rail comfortingly, trying to decide what she should say, "Apparently, he was trying to stop the whale from killing himself. If it's any consolation, I think it worked."

Merry calms, taking heart at the knowledge that her Captain had caused the damage for a reason.

Serena crackles with irritation, "He should have more respect. You can't let humans think they can just do whatever they want."

There's a muddled reaction of denial and offered comfort, tinging into frustration as Serena furrows her brow in irritation at Merry forgiving the injury so easily.

Zoro reaches the shore and lays his burden down next to the ship. Usopp is right behind him carrying the plates stashed in a makeshift backpack he's made out of the canvas he found.

The sniper drops the bag and flops down on the ground melodramatically sprawling out and panting.

Merry reaches out to them in greeting.

Usopp turns his head toward the ship. When he sees Zoro leaning against the mast watching him with bored patience, he pulls himself together and stands up to check things over.

As the swordsman yawns and start to slide down, the sniper calls out urgently, "Zoro, don't fall asleep! I need your help! I'm just going to grab some nails real quick."

Usopp runs into the storeroom, Zoro yawns and blinks a few times, stretching and rolling his shoulders to stay awake. Usopp comes back a minute later with a mallet and a bucket of nails.

"Okay, I need to you to lift this and line it up so it's facing the right way."

Zoro crouches down to heave the fifty foot piece of wood upright, but Usopp stops him by adding nervously, "Oh but before you do that, bend these plates so they fit. Then you can hold it while I nail them on."

Zoro straightens back up, brow furrowed, "Is that all?"

Usopp stammers, "Uh, Please?"

Zoro lets a long breath out through his nose, crouches down and starts bending the thick metal plates around the mast.

Usopp inspects the fit of the plates and fusses over them a little, "Could you twist this one a bit more like this." He gestures with his hands to indicate what he means. "And you bent this one so it's going to be all sideways."

Zoro give him a tired look, "Does it matter?"

Usopp's eyes drop to his shoes as they scuff at the dirt, "…I guess not…Not like I really know what I'm doing."

Zoro attempts to be encouraging, "Most of the stuff you make works…eventually."

"Right," Usopp rocks back and forth on his feet as he scans the area as if hoping someone more qualified will appear.

He sighs and then straightens up, claps his hands together, and injects some confidence into his voice, "Okay! Let's get Merry back in shape to sail."

Zoro heaves the mast upright. Usopp spends several minutes trying to get him to orient it correctly, but he keeps moving it the wrong way compared to the directions he's given.

Usopp finally just nudges his shoulder in the direction he wants him to move.

Zoro glares at him.

"Do you want to be doing this all day? We're almost there, just move a bit more this way." The sniper pushes the swordsman a bit more to the side and despite the scowl on his face the larger man shuffles sideways.

"Okay, set it down, _carefully." _

"I know."

Besides a little crunching the splintered ends seem to fit together pretty well. Usopp sighs in relief, "Okay, now just hold it like that."

A couple plates in Usopp wipes his brow and comments, "It's a good thing we have you freakishly strong people to help out. Can you imagine what it would be like trying to fix this otherwise?"

Zoro gives a noncommittal grunt and tries to shift into a more comfortable position.

Usopp finishes the first layer and shakes his arms out. They're getting tired from holding up the large plates with one hand while pounding the nails through the rivet holes with the other.

As the sniper starts on a second layer, Zoro lets go of the mast and, when it doesn't show any sign of shifting, he rolls his shoulders again and wanders over to the railing unnoticed by Usopp.

By the time he's almost done with the second layer, Usopp's arms are shaking from the strain and he's obviously feeling even more cross about the whole thing, "Of course, if Luffy weren't so strong this wouldn't have happened in the first place. How could that idiot just destroy our ship!?"

He's answered with a loud snore and finally notices Zoro is no longer helping.

"Hey, I could use a little help over here, Zoro!"

*Snore*

"I'm not a shipwright, you know!"

*Snore*

Usopp continues to pound nails in, the ring of metal on metal filling the air, "How are you even sleeping through this?!"

About an hour later, Usopp finally nails down the last plate. He lets the mallet hang loosely in his fingers as he walks around the mast inspecting his work before collapsing backward in a sprawl on the deck with a groan, "My arms are killing me."

Merry sends out a wave of gratitude toward him.

Usopp smiles up at the Straw Hat Jolly Roger once more flying over their ship, letting out a small "heh" of satisfaction.

Zoro is still asleep when Sanji comes out of the kitchen humming happily to himself with the freshly prepared Blue-finned Elephant Tuna laid out on several trays.

Just as he's reaches the main deck a shriek echoes from the top of the cliff, causing the whale to dive for cover and the smile to drop off the cook's face.

As Sanji quickly heads up the ladder to check on Nami, Usopp levers himself up and follow behind not wanting to miss out on food.

All is quiet for a little while, until another shriek of outrage from the navigator precedes Sanji and Luffy flying off the cliff into the water.

As Wado walks over to the railing to try to see what's going on there is an explosion just a few hundred feet away out toward the ocean. Some kind of bird is circling away, "Was that vulture carrying explosives?" she asks no one in particular.

Pretty soon Sanji hauls Luffy onto the ledge just as the weirdos from before swim to shore, singed from the recent explosion.

Sanji immediately abandons his captain to recover on the ledge so he can help the blue haired woman out of the water and up the ladder to where Usopp and Nami are waiting.

Wado jumps down to where Luffy flopped on the shore, "Gumgum, what's going on? What has Nami so worked up?"

"Well, apparently there's this really important compass we need to sail on the Grand Line and Nami had one, but then Sanji threw Luffy and broke it…" As she's saying this Luffy stands up and starts to run after the others, Wado follows a little ways, but the plant spirit's ramble is cut off by Luffy extending his arm and sling shotting himself back to the top.

Wado sighs in exasperation and jumps back up onto Merry's deck.

Yubashiri is scrutinizing Zoro, who hasn't stirred through any of this, "Is something wrong with him?"

She walks over to the Swordsman and crouches down touching his shoulder, "Sometimes he pushes himself and then he does this. I think it's his body's way of defending itself from his stubbornness."

In his sleep Zoro's hand shifts to the hilt of her blade.

Yubashiri eyes the motion, "How long have you worked with him?"

Wado thinks back, "About nine years now, but I knew him before that."

"Do you belong to his family?" Yubashiri asks, sorrow and jealousy tinting his voice.

Wado stands and leans on the railing next to Zoro, giving herself some time to think of what to say, "My previous master ran a school on a small island tucked in a remote corner of the East Blue. He gave me to his daughter when she turned twelve. I watched her grow up. She was shaping up to be a brilliant swordsman."

She swallows down, _I was there when she died_.

She keeps her eyes on the swordsman as she continues, "When she died in an accident, this one, the only one with the determination to match her, asked to take me out into the world, to fulfill a promise they made to each other."

She meets the other spirit's eyes trying to convey the depth of their conviction, "He _is_ going to be the greatest Swordsman in the World."

Yubashiri studies her intently, digesting what she's said, "I can understand why you're so determined. You knew the girl personally…but even so I don't think a memory will be enough to carry him all the way."

Wado sucks in a breath, the words jamming in her throat, there's so much more to it than that. How could he not understand?

"HA!" Kitetsu scoffs in contempt as he straightens up from where he was leaning against the wall by the stairs, mostly unnoticed until now, "So that's it, the memory of a girl long dead, will justify slashing your way through anyone you come across to try and grant meaning to a meaningless death. That's not noble, it's delusional."

Wado sees red.

The next thing she knows, she feels Serena's long pointed fingers digging into her shoulders as the dryad pulls her off Kitetsu.

It's probably only been a few seconds, but Kitetsu's nose is bleeding where she punched him and she can feel the wet sting of claw marks on her arm.

Serena keeps a hand on Wado's shoulder as she glares down at Kitetsu, still laying on the ground, teeth bared up at them. "It hasn't even been a whole day yet and this is already getting old. You're not stupid. You've already seen enough to know that's not true."

Yubashiri sneers, "Kitetsu is like a dog that barks at everything. His contempt is meaningless."

The dryad turns her scowl on the self-righteous spirit, "You were fighting with him just a few hours ago."

She turns back to the red-maned spirt who is just pulling himself to his feet still glaring at everyone, "You've obviously been through a lot, but we aren't your enemies. Stop picking fights with everyone."

Kitetsu hackles rise, "Don't lecture me, fruit tree!"

She straightens up fully, watching him impassively.

He seems a bit thrown off by her lack of reaction, but rallies to snarl, "Don't give me that look like you're better than me."

The dryad continues to watch him intently, "I'm just waiting to see if I will have to act."

Lamar comes out of the galley holding some damp cloths, he tosses one to Wado and then to Kitetsu. The aggravated spirit automatically snatches the cloth out of the air then seems irritated that he accidently accepted it.

He glares at everyone then, smirking at the brownie says, "_Thank You_."

And turns and stalks off toward Merry's stern.

They all stare after him as he leaves.

Lamar huffs, as if to say 'what should I have expected' and turns to Wado, "Well, how's your shoulder doing?"

"It's fine, it's mostly stopped bleeding already," she grimaces, "I shouldn't have punched him."

"Eh," the brownie wrinkles his nose weighing that assertion. "He was clearly picking a fight."

Wado pulls the cloth away and inspects her shoulder, "But I acted without thinking. It's a weakness letting someone push my buttons like that."

She turns to Yubashiri, "I guess there's a reason we don't often try to convince people with words. We're really no good at it."

Yubashiri grimaces at accidently grouping himself with Kitetsu, "Let me explain what I meant." He takes a moment to gather his thoughts, "I once belonged to a proud and accomplished military family. I served them for generations and saw warriors of all kinds on the battlefield. Idealists are often brave, but also reckless; they throw themselves on the pyre of a cause and burn out."

"Hmm," Serena seems to consider his words, "The swordsman does love to find hills to try and die on."

Betrayal! "Hey!"

The dryad smiles at her, "But usually when he gets hurt, it's because he was trying to protect someone else."

Yubashiri looks thoughtful.

Eventually, everyone comes back down, including the two weirdos. As they start to get ready to head out, Wado asks Gumgum, "They're coming with us?"

Boshi breaks in with enthusiasm, "We're giving them a ride back to their base!"

Wado is confused, "Why? Who are they?"

"Uh," Boshi scratches his head, "Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday."

Wado's eyes widen and snap toward Zoro, who is still sound asleep. Her ears droop, "Well, I'm sure he'll be awake by then."

Boshi's not listening, "It's only a few hours to Whiskey Peak! Our first island on the Grand Line! This is going to be awesome!"

She heads toward where Serena is leaning on the front railing examining the water, intending to discuss what they can do to prepare for the ambush they are probably headed into.

However, as she nears, the dryad distracts her by commenting, "This may be a problem."

Serena's voice is as level as ever, but her eyes are intent on the water. Wado rushes over to see what new trouble has shown up.

Swarming alongside Merry is a school of large fish sporting fangs as long as her hand, their bodies nothing more than spiny skeletons covered in blue and red mottled skin. When her shadow falls on the water the fish start jumping and snapping at the air trying to reach them.

Boshi is suddenly beside her leaning out between the railings, "Cool!"

Alarmed, Wado yanks him back as one of the fish jumps high out of the water and tries to swallow him whole.

…She probably just unintentionally saved the fish.

Looking around she realizes the water around them is still teaming with spirits from all four blues. Spirits from climates that normally would never encounter each other are suddenly in close proximity.

Now that they are a little ways out, whatever had drawn them up the mountain seems to be wearing off.

A little distance away a herd of deer-fish cross-breeds flee from something that resembles a giant lynx with antlers and spines along its back.

A trio of long-haired sleek humanoids colored in varying shades of blue and trailing wisps of frost glide close to the ship. They give her and Serena wide, sharp toothed smiles.

A little too wide to be truly friendly.

Wado returns the grin in kind, showing her fangs a little. Fight or no fight, she's happy either way.

Below them, the skeleton fish turn almost as one and leap at them, jaws snapping in the air.

Wado jerks, wondering if she's about to see a massacre, only to freeze when the humanoid water spirits suddenly elongate into serpentine creatures with horns and fangs of their own and start snapping the fanged fish out of the water, swallowing them whole while making pleased grumbles.

They must be elementals of some kind because as they linger near Merry, the temperature starts to drop and snow starts to condense out of the air.

Luffy is thrilled, he starts sweeping the stuff into a pile with elongated arms yelling, "Snowman!"

Usopp cheers and starts gathering up a base for his own masterpiece, "Let me show you how champion sculpts snow!"

Serena crosses her arms and narrows her eyes at the creatures, irritated at the cold.

Done with their snacks the horned serpents turn their attention back to the ship. The hunger on their faces clearly apparent now.

Wado shows her teeth again in warning.

One of them unhinges their jaw and lunges at her.

She springs back, giving them a swat across the nose for the attempt.

Another one tries to snap at Serena, she puts her fingers together and drives her hand into their gaping mouth, effectively spearing them through the roof of their mouth and causing them to rear back with a choked growl, blood leaking from between their serrated teeth.

The serpents recoil into a knot to regroup. The one Wado scratched gives them a sly glance, before gesturing with their head in the direction of Merry's stern.

Wado narrows her eyes a growl building in her chest, "Don't you dare."

The serpent flicks their tongue out mockingly at them and the trio dives and starts to circle Merry.

The Strawhat spirits watch tensely, trying to figure out what the serpents are up to.

They feel Merry becoming alarmed.

Yubashiri catches on first, "They're messing with the current. We're turning."

Boshi jumps up on the railing and shouts down at the serpents, "Hey! Cut it out! You're upsetting Merry!"

When they ignore him, he growls and leaps off the railing.

Wado lunges for him, but misses.

Just before he hits the water the one with claw marks on their muzzle arcs out of the water just far enough to swallow the capuchin whole.

With cries of alarm, Lamar and Wado lunge forward about to follow him into the water.

Serena grabs them both by the backs of their shirts before they can dive in, "How will that help?"

Just as Wado pulls loose and is about to demand what _she_ thinks they should do, the serpent rears back up out of the water beside the ship, eyes wide with alarm.

They start to shake their head back and forth, still not making any noise as they start to fall behind the ship.

They all move toward Merry's stern to keep water spirit in sight. The problem is the attacker is starting to sink as well as falling behind…

They have to do something, "If Boshi gets too far away, while still in the throat of that thing, it's going to take him forever to recover!"

Lamar glances at her in confusion, before deciding, "Serena, if you give me a tether then Wado can toss me out there. I'll get him out and you can reel us back in."

Serena nods her head and produces a coil of vine. Yubashiri goes stiff like he just remembered they're all crazy, "Just let him sleep it off!"

Wado shakes her head, "It would be safer for me to go."

Lamar gives them a severe look, opening his mouth to retort, but before he can say anything a bolt of lightning streaks out of the sky and strikes the serpent.

As the thunder rattles Merry's planks, a formidable storm spirit drops out of the clouds.

They have the appearance of a giant bird of prey, with a wingspan as long as Merry and a formidable beak like a sea eagle.

They fold their wings and dive for the water spirit they just roasted as the body starts to sink.

Just before the body goes under the eagle grasps onto their prey and starts hauling upward.

But before the giant bird can lift the serpent fully out of the water, the other two water spirits pop out of the water and sink their teeth into sky spirit's legs trying to pull them under.

The bird screeches in anger and pain, but they can't defend themselves while putting all their effort into flapping hard enough to avoid being dragged under.

Wado jumps up on the railing and leaps as hard as she can just managing to land on the back of the closer serpent. She wraps her legs around their neck and sinks her claws into its muzzle pulling backward.

She feels something tug on her mane. Lamar gripes at her "Hey! Don't just go running off on your own!"

The brownie jumps off her back and wraps his legs around the bird's other leg.

"There wasn't time to discuss it!" she responds through gritted teeth, most of her attention on getting the sea monster to let go.

"You shouldn't jump without a tether, idiot!" Lamar insists while leaning down toward the other water spirit with his hand starting to emit a menacing dark glow.

The jaws of sea snake in the bird's grasp lever open with an unsettling 'pleh' and Boshi pops out covered in saliva, but still grinning. He climbs along the limp body until he gets in range of where Wado is still fighting.

"Don't jump on me, you're-!"

Boshi lands on her shoulder, splattering snake spit all over her shirt and mane, "-disgusting."

The one Lamar is threatening has gone cross eyed trying to keep his hands in sight, just before he touches them, they decide they've had enough and let go to dive under water.

A moment later the one Wado is attacking follows and she has to quickly let go so she can grab the eagle's other leg.

Boshi addresses the eagle cheerfully, "Hey, thanks for the help, those snakes were a pain! Could you drop us back on our ship?"

The massive spirit gazes intently at them in either curiosity or irritation. It's difficult to tell with the beak. Boshi just continues to grin up at the bird expectantly.

They come to a conclusion and release a sigh as they let go of the serpent they roasted so they can gain some altitude.

It only takes a few flaps for them catch up to Merry and land on the back railing so everyone can get off.

"Hey, wait here just a moment." Lamar runs through the wall of the galley.

Boshi starts to asks, "Hey do you –"

Serena crouches down so she can bop the capuchin on the head, "Bad monkey, getting yourself eaten."

He pouts rubbing his head, "It was only for a minute."

Lamar comes trotting back out with the misty essence of something he's pulled out of the pantry cupped in his hands.

He tips his hand and the mist solidifies into a chunk of Sea King meat large enough to make lunch for their Captain, "It would have been much more difficult to get Boshi back without your help."

The eagle stares down at him intently for a few breaths, before arcing their neck down to pick the chunk of meat up in their beak.

The thunder spirit leaps throwing up a whirlwind as they take off.

As the bird drops behind the ship they toss the offering high into the air. With a flick of their wings another bolt of lightning comes down and the eagle catches the now charred meat and quickly bolts it down whole.

Boshi is impressed, "Lucky! I wish I could eat like that!"

Lamar rolls his eyes, "You do."

"But you always get mad."

"It's not like that stops you."

They are interrupted from watching the huge sea eagle fly off by Gumgum calling urgently from near the front of the ship, "Everyone! You should see this!"

Wado tries to mentally prepare herself as she chases after Boshi who is grinning with excitement as he runs through the galley so he can see what's ahead of them.

Wado runs through the front wall of the galley and freezes at the daunting sight ahead of them.

Somehow, despite the sea being fairly calm right where they are, they are only seconds away from sailing into a hurricane filled with lighting and icebergs.

She can just glimpse the bodies of various elemental spirits tumbling through the water fleeing and fighting.

After that one frozen moment of terror burns itself into her mind, the next couple of hours are a blur of one emergency after another.

The humans are sent scrambling around the deck, constantly adjusting the sails and rudder to keep moving in the right direction. The log pose may point unerringly to their destination, but currents and wind both seem to be intent on doing everything they can to turn them away.

The whole time the weather shifts so quickly there's no chance to adjust. They just have to endure being soaked, frozen and then boiled as they struggle to keep the ship on course. The waves lift higher as they clash, fog swirls into existence as cold air hits warm, snow and ice condenses as humid air hits freezing, lightning strikes through a continuous rumbling out of clouds rolling like a pot boiling.

Things aren't much better in the spirit realm. Aggressive spirits are all around them. They close in on Merry, thinking it will be easy to intimidate and tear down the will of a small ship forcing her to give up her charges.

The little ship sails on, peaking over mountainous waves that give a view of the roiling storm on all sides, then sliding down into valleys where it appears that those same mountains are about to fall on top of them . They can feel Merry's boards shift under their feet as she twists under the pressure of the waves.

Nami is shouting directions as everyone else scrambles to make adjustments and repairs. They are pouring their determination and faith into the ship and she in turn has put her faith in them.

The energy circling back and forth builds into a resonance. Merry seems to take on a glow in the darkness of the storm. A visible sign of the strength of Luffy's crew.

The monsters surrounding them hesitate; some go to find easier prey. Those that still venture forward are struck with claws, teeth, thorns, and pure destructive energy.

Wado just happens to be looking in the right direction when a long-necked creature with a blunt muzzle full of teeth rears up just above the railing.

Almost before she knows what's going on, its head snakes low across the deck as it lunges toward Kitetsu, who is currently confronting some spear wielding creatures that resemble giant frogs.

The others have tended to stick close together to better guard each other's backs, but the red-maned spirit keeps getting separated from everyone else as if it doesn't even occur to him to trust others to help him fight.

Wado lunges and anchors her fore claws into the creature's long neck so she can start tearing at it with her back legs.

With a shriek the monster flings its long neck back with a snap. Wado's claws score long marks along the beast's thick, slimy hide as she slides, but manages to hold on.

However, as it continues to snap its head back and forth, her claws keep slipping backwards.

She can see Lamar and Serena running toward them.

"I'll be fine!" she yells as loud as she can, hoping they can hear her. She doesn't want them to do anything unnecessarily risky to help her.

They pause for a moment in uncertainty, just as her claws finally slip free. She has just a moment to contemplate how awful things are about to get before she hits the water.

The water is freezing, then hot, then freezing again. The monster's tail and bulbous body pass by. It seems to be above her or maybe beside her as she's lifted by one of the huge waves.

She can feel her connection to her blade rapidly attenuating as she falls behind Merry.

She can't breathe or tell which way the surface is. The feeling of being deprived of the energy she needs to hold together has her trying vainly to paddle in the direction of the ship despite being too slow and completely turned around as well.

As her energy runs out and she starts to dissolve into unconsciousness, she hopes Yubashiri explains things to Serena and Lamar before they do something foolish trying to reach her.

* * *

**I read over everything I write like a million times and yet I still find errors when I'm getting ready to post. Let me know if anything doesn't make sense or if there's anything you want me to elaborate on. **

**Thank you for reading!**


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